Tag Archives: Youth Curriculum

When we turn the page on the calendar, we often do not look back at the goals of the year before. If you’re like me, you are always looking forward. It is important to take a moment to see how well you did in the goals you set. Because what good are goals is they are set and never met. Here’s a look at how last year’s goals went, to celebrate some victories but also discuss some obstacles you may face.

New Book! – Blessing to announce my 1st book has been published and my goal is for 1,000 copies to be sold to help people fall in love with God’s Word.

Grade: C. Got about halfway to my goal this year. While that’s a little disappointing, how God has used the book is not. The book is now in the hands of missionaries across the world, youth groups across the country, and in the homes of dear families I care about. Even in defeat, that is an incredible victory. Feel free to check it out at http://www.bottomlinedevotional.com

New Curriculum Plan! – Hard to believe this is my 6th year ministering at MBC, which mean a new 6 year plan will be put in place—with the input of parents, students, and research this plan will be implemented in the fall of 2017.

Grade: A. Mission accomplished. With the help of parents, leaders, & students, I was able to produce a sparkling new 6 year curriculum to allow parents to see a plan is in place for their teenager in every year of youth ministry.

Mentoring – Teach a 2 week Mentoring series to encourage mentoring of generations within the church.

Grade: B-. Sure, the class went well and had great interaction. However, it’s been a slow process to see this culture happen within the church. Have I seen some growth? Absolutely. But i would love for more to catch the mentoring bug.

Short Term Mission Trip – Due to monthly local mission project, the 3 year cycle is now work trip, out-of-state, international trip. This year we will be traveling for our work trip.

Grade: A. What a great week. God provided for us to go work at a camp in New York. The teens worked hard, grew in their walk with Christ, and found it a positive time of unity and service.

Life After High School Series—Special speakers to speak on after high school temptations like drugs, how to witness after high school, and leader advice for the young adult years.

Grade: A. One of my all-time favorite student ministry series. You can check it out in detail here.

Public School Partnership – Continue to find ways to partner with local schools to serve them and bring the hope of Jesus Christ to students.

Grade: B-. While we have been able to have a steady presence at the high school, we have seen limited growth. And the middle school partnership has not materialized. Praying God will open doors and I’d be bold enough to walk through the opening.

Social Media Interaction – Bolster ministry social media footprint with student leadership help and more interaction on Facebook.

Grade: B+. Assigned a student as the social media coordinator, and seen an improvement in interaction. Still working on ways to make this even more interactive.

Implement G.R.O.W.T.H Chart– Encourage parents to follow chart of spiritual growth for their students and provide training and help for students to reach these spiritual goals.

Grade: B. Through parent/pastor conferences, this has come a little more alive. Still could use more improvement, but a step in the right direction.

Well, I passed 2017. Maybe not on the honor roll this year, but God certainly blessed, and I praise Him for all the victories and lessons He has taught me along the way.

In the final installment of the Youth Curriculum Review of 2015, let’s take a look at some small group curriculum.

Creative Bible Lessons in Job by Doug Ranck. Let me just say this. I have searched and used many youth curriculum, and one of the curricula that I often recommend is the Creative Bible Lessons. Here’s what you get with this curriculum. A starter or icebreaker for the lesson that often comes with multiple options with minimal setup but maximum effectiveness. Then the lesson is dynamic, easy to teach, good foundation of Scripture, and a good challenge. In the end, there are discussion questions and worksheets that work very well in the small group setting.

Serving Like Jesus by Doug Fields & Brett Eastman. This was a good fit for small group, but on a heavier teaching night, it would not work as well. The teaching material is limited and often required some additional work. However, the discussion questions and outlined series were phenomenal. I actually added to the series by inviting people in the church who were serving like Jesus to interview them. That added to the material. The highlight of this curriculum was definitely the plethora of interaction and discussion questions. So if you struggle in the teaching side, this might not be best series. But in a small group setting with shorter teaching and more discussion, this is perfect.

Surrender by Francis Chan. Disclaimer to begin: I’m a huge Francis Chan. I’ve read every book he has written and Crazy Love happens to be in my top 5 books of all time. That being said, this series is a small group goldmine for many reasons. It provides a DVD series to break up your teaching. The subject matters are not fluff, but are very challenging, relevant, and hold the interest well. The lesson is very well put together and Biblically based. The discussion questions provided allow the small groups to flourish and have great follow-up. The only down side is it only 4 weeks. Other than that, it is well worth using for a “break” series during the year, to finish the year, or even in a retreat setting.

As mentioned in a previous blog article “Why You Should Teach Theology to Teenagers”, I decided to bravely go where few youth pastors have gone before…a series on theology. Theology and doctrine are the foundation of our beliefs. And it is what you believe and who you believe in that drives how you will live your life. This makes this theology series called “Theology of a Teenager” a potentially life-changing series. So, realizing the importance of these lessons, I decided to use several resources to enhance my study and prep for each lesson. Below is a review of the resources used…

Curriculum Review: Theology Resources

The Good:

Clear by Chris Folmsbee. This curriculum does a great job of breaking down each major doctrine in a very understandable way. The writer presents the material in a way that is very teachable with workable outlines. This resource was used heavily in the outline phases of the lessons. It often hit the major points that I desired to discuss and helped me narrow down my discussion points. Also, Folmsbee does a great job of integrating Scripture throughout. Large volume of Bible passages to work with in every chapter was very helpful.

Practical Christian Theology by Floyd H. Barackman. Why is this on the list you ask? While it is true, this is not a teen curriculum. However, this was very helpful in bringing it a notch. I warned the students that there would be challenging lessons throughout. But rather than getting eye rolls, I got enthusiasm and teens who were up to the challenge. With this book, you are able to dive a little deeper and challenge your students. I found the students appreciated me not dumbing down the material, but taking it to a higher level. Those that were still new, I still had balanced lesson with the Gospel clear throughout the series.

Creative Bible Lessons in Essential Theology by Andrew Hedges. Compared to the two above, this resource was not used as much. But, this curriculum was valuable for other reasons. It provided great discussion questions to keep the lessons interactive, rather than a long lecture. Also, each lesson has a “breaking the ice” section which was helpful to bridge a game time or announcements to the lesson time.

The Bad:

I feel bad for even putting this in the bad category because of all that Kara Powell has contributed to youth ministry. But I have to be honest, and it is not entirely her fault. This resource was a hand-me-down from 1999. So the material is a bit out of date. There has been quite a progression of technology since then, and it puts many of the illustrations and teacher resources non-usable. Also, the curriculum is very difficult to use and many of the teaching ideas require prep time and a great deal of materials. This is not a curriculum tool that I would suggest using for a theology series.

As I prepared to do a series on Creation vs. Evolution, I discovered there are not many non-DVD series curriculum out there. With my interest in the study, and desiring to teach it myself, I decided to purchase books and develop my own curriculum (most of which were purchased here).

So rather than review each resource in detail, a short review will be given on the multiple resources. Please keep in mind that science was and still is my worst subject, so my puny brain struggled with some of these books mightily.

Curriculum Review: Creation vs. Evolution Resources

The Good:

Creation or Evolutionby Mike Snavely. This was not easy to find, but boy am I glad I did. Most of my material came out of this book. It is designed for curriculum but I would not suggest using this as your only source. Having said that, if I had to choose one resource for my presentations, it would be this one. Great illustrations, easy-to-read explanations, updates facts and information, and very easy to use. I strongly recommend this book for anyone teaching on creation/evolution.

The Lie: Evolution by Ken Ham. A little strong of a title, but true. This book was very helpful for providing a Biblical foundation to your lessons. While I did not use the entire book, I found it very useful. While it is easy to get caught up in the scientific nature of this subject, this book allows you to bring a spiritual emphasis into your presentations.

The Not So Useful:

Evolution Exposed (Earth Science & Biology)by Roger Patterson– What is this like? Me feel dumb. This was way above my pay grade, and way above my head. Was there material in the book that I used, absolutely. But, in teaching a survey class that is more an overview, these books are not for you. However, if you are looking to go into great detail on certain subjects, these are winners.

Bible-based. A curriculum that uses God’s Word properly and frequently is always appreciated. This allows the students to dive into the Bible and use it as a foundation for their apologetics.

Options. Something every teacher appreciates is options. This curriculum provides several options in each lesson for illustrations and group work.

“Confident Christian” by Group Publishing

Worldview. With the growing diversity in our country, it is a necessity for a believer to have an understanding of other religions and worldviews. In apologetics, this is especially necessary. This curriculum does a dynamite job of accomplishing this goal.

Variety. The students really enjoyed the interaction and varied illustration (and so did the teacher). The group work was always effective and the opening illustrations were very helpful.

The Bad:

“Apologetics” by RBP FaithBuilders

Is that it? There were times when I was asking this question. It seemed to fall short at times in terms of amount of content. While the content was strong in quality, it

Dial up internet? This material needs to be upgraded. The material, handouts, and even some content are behind the times. It is time for a new edition. However, it does not de-value to the material itself, just hurts the presentation of it.

“Confident Christian” by Group Publishing

Again? One major problem I had with the material was the repetition. Although review is good, they seemed to stretch lessons to the point of repeating content.

Last week, I wrote a very convincing blog on why you should consider using curriculum. This week is a brief list of websites that will help you find the right curriculum. Even if you already using a year-long curriculum like XP3 or LIVE, you most likely have other teaching times. So, you inevitably have the daunting task of searching the internet for curriculum that will fit your topic, your teaching style, your group size…and the list goes on. Below is a list of websites that I have used in the past.

Quick tip: Open all websites, type in the topic or Book study in the search box provided, and compare the products found.

Youth Specialties. What is nice about Youth Specialties is explained in their organization’s name. They specialize in youth ministry material. Several of these other companies have a wider range of material, which does not make them any better or worse, but I feel Youth Specialties garners trust with their focused material on youth. You will not have to worry whether the material is designed for older or younger audiences, but is tailored specifically for youth ministry.

Group. What I like about their website and curriculum is it is tailored for a specific program. Whether it is a small group setting, mission trip training, sermons, or even junior high or high school material, the resource organization on their website is very helpful. Group also provides a LIVE curriculum that will last the entire junior high and high school years – 72/144 weeks respectively.

Regular Baptist Press. This one might not be as well-known, but it happens to be my favorite. Out of all the curriculum I have used, this is the most user-friendly and creative. If I ever have a guest speaker for a series, I typically will try to give them this curriculum. The only downside is there typically is not DVD-based curriculum, if you are into those, and also the topics are somewhat limited. But if you find something that fits your topic, I would strongly recommend purchasing or at least using it as a supplement material to your lessons.

Simply Youth Ministry.See Youth Specialties description. This is essentially the youth department of Group. So much of what is on this website overlaps with Group and their products. But I still go here to make sure I didn’t miss any resources.

Zondervan. This may have gone under the radar to many of you, because Zondervan is often viewed as a publisher or regular books, not necessarily curriculum. I’ve found some great material here, including some incredibly creative DVD-series that my student have enjoyed. Worth a look.

Word of Life. When a youth worker or a new youth pastor is looking for a curriculum that is already designed, planned, and much of the pre-work is done already…this is where I point them. Word of Life has done a great job at providing curriculum that saves the teacher time in lesson planning, but also provides quality teaching and material for the lesson prep and study time.

What say you? What curriculum websites do you use when you are searching for the right curriculum.

Time. Don’t think of curriculum as cutting corners. Think of it as being a good steward of your time. Curriculum will often provide you with a lesson plan to eliminate time in planning out each individual lesson topic. Also, curriculum speeds up the lesson prep process, without sacrificing the depth of the material.

More Depth. Speaking of depth, I have found using curriculum allows my teaching to be even more in depth. With the extra time and often discussion questions already built-in, I am able to do additional research and provide a more in-depth learning experience than I could have without the use of curriculum.

People Are Smarter Than You. It’s true; there are people that are smarter than you. First step is admitting it. The second step is allowing other people’s work and study to benefit your teaching. Curriculum provides additional insight that you may not have come up with on your own.

Creativity. If you are youth pastor, youth leader, or work with youth, chances are you are creative. But with curriculum, you can be even more creative. Good curriculum gives you various options for opening illustration, lesson options, and closing takeaways. Teens desire hands-on, interactive, visual and aesthetic learning. Curriculum provides you with additional and creative options to provide a greater learning experience for your students.

Variety. Curriculum provides variety. Some curriculum is DVD-based, some uses video intros, and some is more interactive teaching. With each curriculum comes variety. If it was up to you, chances are you will most likely end up teaching to your strengths and according to your methods. Variety provides an excitement for each series, and you know what they say “variety is very spicy”…I think that’s what they say, something like that.

So what about you? Why do you use or not use curriculum? Feel free to comment below.

Stay tuned for next week, where I will reveal some of my favorite curriculum that I have used in the past, and will look forward to your comments on what curriculum you have used as well.

This post will be the final installment of the curriculum review series for 2013-2014. My hope is these reviews will not discourage you from using curriculum, but help you find the right fit for your youth or student ministry. Feel free to comment and ask questions to help you make that important teaching decision.

Creative. This brought a creative approach to the Ten Commandments, which the students appreciated. Often, when a student hears idols or thou shalt not murder, they don’t believe these commandments have anything to do with them. This series presents these in such a creative way, the student eyes are opened that their lives are impacted by each commandment, every day.

Visual. These videos bring the Ten Commandments to life. It is not just on a stone tablet anymore for the students. But these videos give real life examples of the commandments.

Discussion. Something I always appreciate about curriculum is discussion questions. This curriculum does not disappoint with discussion questions that engage, and encourage interaction with the material.

The Bad:

Act Right. Honestly, got a little weird in some parts. The acting at times struggled, and as a result it brought about some awkward moments for the audience. There may have been some laughter in the audience when things weren’t funny, and some shaking of heads in the attempt of comedy.

Stretch Exercises. Some of the application or visual representation of the commandments were a bit of a stretch. And some were difficult to teach as a result of that stretching. Also, the first two discussions were quite similar, which made things a little confusing.

Smell. The box smelled. Not kidding. No explanation for the smell. But it smelled.

The Grade: B-

Not my all-time favorite DVD series. It had its moments in presenting a creative way to study the Ten Commandments. But there were also times of awkwardness and a need for a teacher willing to work a little harder to make the material work. I wouldn’t go as far as saying this series stinks (although the box really did stink), because it was a fun series for our students. However, it required good discussion afterwards and a willingness to think a little outside the box to make it work.

The practicality is through the roof with this series. What teenager can’t use a lesson on finances, especially with a Biblical foundation? Seriously, some of these students had no clue how to manage money. If they practice the principles in this series, we are talking about saving them some major heartache.

The Biblical foundation was the best “good” of this curriculum. Without it, you could find these principles on a book in Barnes & Noble. But with the Biblical lessons and Scriptural backing for each point, it gave the material authority and reason for life changes, specifically in the area of money.

Dave Ramsey’s daughter Rachel Cruze was the main speaker on the DVD’s. Her youth served her well in the sense of relevance. She was able to speak the language of the teens well, and tune into what they were thinking throughout the series. Rachel easily held the attention of the room, and did a great job presenting the material.

A word that comes to mind for this series is “sharp”. I would call this sharp material. What I mean is the leader guide was well-designed; the DVD’s were dynamic and engaging, including an artistic presentation in each DVD that was incredible. The overall package was impressive

The Bad:

The price may seem like it should go in the bad category, but when you see the price of the adult material, you will be thankful. However, one bad in purchasing all 3 sets in the series, was there was some material that was repeated. Since these DVD sets could stand alone in a study, I’m guessing that is why the material found itself repeating on occasion.

Another bad, more a slightly bad, would be the Biblical study required a little more prep on the leader’s part. There was definitely material as a foundation, but there were time when it lacked depth. Maybe my standards are high, but I was thirsty for more.

Lastly, there was some advice that was a little “shoot for the moon”. No debt from college? Pay for your 1st house with cash? Now I’m all for not getting into debt and living within your means, but there were statements like these that raised my eyebrows. With the income levels of my students, some debt management statements in my opinion were a little unrealistic.

The Grade: A-

If the students review was any indication of its worth, then it immediately should be considered in the “A” category. When I asked the students what they thought of the series, several of them said it was their favorite one they have studied. That’s a big statement. So, do these students just like talking about money or did this series truly have a spiritual impact? I’m going to go with yes.